Richard Conte

 Richard Conte, born Nicholas Peter Conte (March 24, 1910 – April 15, 1975)

He appeared in more than 100 films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow, Ocean's 11, and The Godfather. Conte worked as a truck driver, messenger, shoe salesman, and singing waiter before starting his acting career. He was discovered by actors Elia Kazan and John Garfield during his job at a Connecticut resort, which led to Conte finding stage work. He eventually earned a scholarship to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. His first film performance was in 1939, Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence, in which he was billed as Nicholas Conte. His career started to thrive during the Second World War. In 1942, Conte signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. He then changed his name to Richard Conte. His first Fox film was Guadalcanal Diary (1943). During the World War II years, Conte played mostly soldiers in war dramas, including The Purple Heart (1944) and A Walk in the Sun (1945). Conte appeared in many films noir after World War II. Conte appeared in the espionage movie 13 Rue Madeleine (1947) and in such Fox crime dramas as Cry of the City and Call Northside 777 (both from 1948) and Thieves' Highway (1949). Conte appeared in Otto Preminger's classic film noir Whirlpool (1949) co-starring Gene Tierney. He also starred with Susan Hayward along with Edward G. Robinson and Luther Adler in House of Strangers (1949) as Max Monetti, a lawyer who defends his father (Robinson) against government charges of banking irregularities and goes to prison for jury tampering. In the early-1950s, Conte, now not working for Fox, began appearing in films for various studios.

Critics and fans consider his best films from that era include the film noir B-movies The Sleeping City (1950), Hollywood Story (1951), The Raging Tide (1951), The Blue Gardenia (1953), Highway Dragnet (1954), The Big Combo (1955), New York Confidential (1955), and The Brothers Rico (1957). Once film noir became less popular in the 1960s Conte’s career was at a standstill. He appeared as Lieutenant Dave Santini in two Frank Sinatra crime films, Tony Rome (1967) and Lady in Cement (1968). He had also appeared with Sinatra in the 1960 film Ocean's 11 and the 1966 picture Assault on a Queen. In 1968 he released his only film as a director, Operation Cross Eagles, in which he also starred. He died April 15, 1975, of a heart attack followed by a stroke. Conte is buried at Westwood Memorial Park.